Posted on 07/18/2011 1:51:51 PM PDT by Red Badger
A main source of the 44 trillion watts of heat that flows from the interior of the Earth is the decay of radioactive isotopes in the mantle and crust. Scientists using the KamLAND neutrino detector in Japan have measured how much heat is generated this way by capturing geoneutrinos released during radioactive decay.
The Earth has cooled since its formation, yet the decay of radiogenic isotopes, and in particular uranium, thorium and potassium, in the planet’s interior provides a continuing heat source. The current total heat flux from the Earth to space is 44.2±1.0 TW, but the relative contributions from residual primordial heat and radiogenic decay remain uncertain. However, radiogenic decay can be estimated from the flux of geoneutrinos, electrically neutral particles that are emitted during radioactive decay and can pass through the Earth virtually unaffected. Here we combine precise measurements of the geoneutrino flux from the Kamioka Liquid-Scintillator Antineutrino Detector, Japan, with existing measurements from the Borexino detector, Italy. We find that decay of uranium-238 and thorium-232 together contribute TW to Earth’s heat flux. The neutrinos emitted from the decay of potassium-40 are below the limits of detection in our experiments, but are known to contribute 4 TW. Taken together, our observations indicate that heat from radioactive decay contributes about half of Earth’s total heat flux. We therefore conclude that Earth’s primordial heat supply has not yet been exhausted.
The latest research from the Japan-based KamLAND collaboration, which uses neutrinos to track heat signatures from within the Earth, says that uranium 238 decay accounts for about eight terawatts of the planet's heat, thorium 232 gives us another eight, and potassium 40 another four. That still leaves more than half the planet's heat energy unaccounted for, including all the heat created in the core.
Lawrence Berkeley labs also worked with the Japanese
Why aren’t you afraid of space?
After all, the entire Earth is surrounded by a VACUUM!...............
Science is not a required course in Journalism School..............
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